At the Dew Drop
by nebula2
Summary: A ghost story, some odd noises, and a snowstorm outside has Garcia seeking protection while on a case in Vermont. Contains a prompt from the 'love song prompt' challenge at The Country Song Prompt Challenge forum.


_AN: A one-shot written by prompts given to me by BonesBird. First time writing a solely Morgan/Garcia fic so don't be too harsh. It could be the start of a relationship between the two of them if you would like. Not suggested by BonesBird but worked in anyway is also a prompt from the Love Song Prompts at Country Song Prompt Challenge. Come check out the forum!_

**Pair: Morgan/Garcia**

**Prompts: Power Outage, Battery Radio, Double Sleeping Bag, and Odd Noises**

**Song: "You Had Me From Hello" by Kenny Chesney**

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><p>Penelope Garcia reached out and turned the lamp on the bedside table off and the room of the Dew Drop Inn was plunged into darkness except for the digital clock displaying the time - 1 A.M. The FBI technical analyst climbed into the bed and underneath the black double sleeping bag that she had brought with her. The sleeping bag had been her parents and she always used in during cold weather instead of a comforter. Though others may have laughed at the concept, she always felt as if she was wrapped in their love when she was under it. When Hotch had asked her to join the team in Vermont for this case, due to the fact that they kept losing contact with her back in Quantico at the most inopportune times, she hadn't hesitated to bring it with her.<p>

As she settled down in the bed, she tried to forget about what was going on outside of the room, and let her body fall into a peaceful sleep. Not an easy feat to do when one considered she was in the middle of the woods - there were no other visible buildings from the inn even if there wasn't a raging snowstorm outside. Added to that was the fact that there was a crazy person roaming this small Vermont town who enjoyed raping and then drowning young women - all of whom had either had red or brown hair. Dying her red hair black before coming had crossed Penelope's mind more than once as she had gathered her things to come join the team.

~_Don't think about the case_, ~ Penelope tried telling herself as she laid in the bed. ~_You're quite safe here. You've got Em in the room on one side, and Derek in the other room next to yours. Hotch and Rossi's rooms are across the hall and all four of them have guns. You scream and they'll all come running_.~

~But what if you don't have time to scream? ~

Penelope was trying to banish that thought when she suddenly heard scratching at her window. Suppressing the urge to scream, she looked toward the window. The shadow of a tree branch was visible behind the blind.

"You're bing silly," Penelope told herself as she tried to close her eyes again.

They didn't stay closed long as she suddenly heard a rattling noise out in the hallway and sat up quickly in the bed. Reaching out, Penelope turned the light back on. She glanced at her cell phone, debating on calling someone. Deciding she didn't want to look silly because one of the inn's employees was walking down the hallway, she dismissed the idea. Instead, she got to her feet and walked to the door. Slipping the security chain out of the door, she opened the door and looked both directions. The techie didn't see anything in the hallway.

Penelope closed the door again, slipped the chain back in place and walked back to the bed. Climbing under her sleeping bag once again, she settled her head against the soft pillow, leaving the lamp on this time.

"_This inn was built in 1972 by a husband and wife who wanted to start their own business. The grand opening was a big affair and they thought that it was going to be a successful business adventure. However, three weeks after it opened a series of three deaths involving children occurred here. Local authorities deemed them to be accidents but as with any small town rumors soon cropped up that the children had been murdered. Some rumors even said it was the husband that killed them. The Inn had very few patrons and the Dew Drop Inn was forced to close. It sat empty for five years during which stories circulated that it was haunted, people claiming they saw lights on during the night, and faces of the children who had died in the windows. The current owners bought the Inn in 1977 and have made it into quite a popular place to stay for hunters, hikers, and people looking to for a nice peaceful getaway."_

"Curse Dr. Reid and his ghost stories anyway," Penelope said as she recalled the history lesson the young genius had treated them to during dinner in the inn's dining room and all because Seaver had made the comment that the place was charming.

Penelope lay in the bed, straining her ears for more sounds. All she heard was the howling wind outside and the scratching tree branch. And then the room was suddenly plunged into darkness. She let out a small scream as she sat up in the bed. The only thing going through her head was that the killer had cut the power to the inn to make sneaking up on his next victim easier.

Without really thinking about it, Penelope climbed from the bed, snatched the sleeping bag and headed for the door. Within moments she was standing in front of Morgan's door, banging on it.

It wasn't long before Morgan was opening the door, his face illuminated by his flashlight.

"Oh it's you?" Morgan said, sounding surprised.

"It's me! What kind of greeting is that!"

"Sorry. When the power went out and then I heard banging on my door, I thought it might be Reid. He doesn't like the dark."

"Yeah, well neither do I after the so-called genius spent dinner telling ghost stories and there is a killer out there somewhere who has a taste for red heads!" Garcia said, managing to say the whole sentence in one breath.

"Ah, come here, Baby Girl," Morgan said reaching out and putting one arm around the tech's shoulders and escorting her into the room. "I'll protect you from things that go bump in the night."

"Or the mysterious rattling out in the hallway of our current accommodations," Garcia supplied, snuggling up close to her favorite profiler as Morgan pushed the door shut behind them.

"What's with the sleeping bag there?" Morgan asked as he lead her toward the bed.

Garcia looked down at the said item she had dragged along with her and then back up at him sheepishly. "Security blanket," she admitted. She saw the corners of his mouth twitch up in a smile. "I swear, if you start laughing I will make your cyber life such a living hell."

"Hey, hey. No laughing here," Morgan told her as they both sat on the edge of the room's King size bed. "Have I ever told you how pretty you are when you're angry?" he added lightly.

"If you're trying to butter me up, my love, it's working," Garcia said, with a flirtatious smile, as she leaned toward him, resting her head on her shoulder. It was then that she became aware of the soft jazz music that filled the room. Lifting her head, she looked around to see a small radio, apparently running on batteries, sitting on the desk. "You just happened to have a battery operated radio with you."

"Yes. It's a permanent fixture in my go-bag. I've got to have my music. I don't leave home without it," Morgan told her. "Seems it's coming in handy tonight."

Garcia nodded.

"Are you feeling a little calmer now, Baby Girl?" Morgan asked, slipping his arm around her shoulder.

"Yes I am," she replied. She turned her blue eyes up at him. "But do you think I could sleep in here tonight. I can sleep on the floor."

"Scared to go back to your own room?" Morgan asked.

There was a loud thud from up above them. Morgan and Garcia both looked toward the ceiling.

"What was that?" Garcia asked.

"I would say the people in the room above us. As the ceiling didn't fall in on us, I wouldn't worry about it."

"Maybe you should go check it out?"

"I'd probably interrupt something that the occupants don't want interrupted," Morgan told her. "Besides, I'd have to leave you here alone."

"On second thought, let's forget we ever heard that thump."

Morgan nodded, before standing up and reaching for a pillow and the comforter on the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"As you're staying here, I thought I would let you have the bed. I'll sleep on the floor. I know how jealous Kevin can get."

"It's a big bed. We can share it," Garcia told him. "Of course unless you think you're such an Alley Cat and couldn't keep your paws to yourself."

"Oh, I can control my paws when I want too," Morgan replied, smiling. "Especially when said kitten can make my cyber life a living hell."

Garcia laughed at the reference to her earlier threat.

"Now perhaps we should get some sleep," Morgan added. "We do have a seven a.m. wake-up call."

The two of them settled in the bed, Garcia cuddled under her sleeping bag and Morgan under the comforter. Out in the hallway a door opened and shut.

"What was that?"

"Someone either entering or leaving their room. Will you relax, Baby Girl?"

"Or it was one of those poor murdered children that Reid was talking about."

"That's a local ghost story."

"Who would be walking around the inn at one in the morning?"

"You were," Morgan pointed out, amusement in his voice.

"Not funny," Garcia muttered, jumping as the heat - which was running by generator - kicked in.

Morgan sighed. Tentatively, he reached out and pulled Garcia closer to him, his arms wrapped protectively around her.

"We're safe inside an inn that is not haunted," he told her, as she snuggled closer to him, her head ending up resting on his chest. The thought of the teasing he would get from some of the other members of the team if they were caught in this position crossed his mind and he dismissed it. He also banished the disapproving look from Hotch too. Right now he didn't care. It was just the two of them and no one else really had to know.

"At this point, even the ghosts wouldn't scare me," Garcia said, contentedly.

The two fell silent, the sound of the wind and the soft jazz music playing a strange duet.

"You wouldn't have to worry about Kevin you know. We broke up last week," Garcia said after a bit.

"Oh, Baby Girl, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"I haven't told anyone yet. You're the first person I've mentioned it too."

"I won't say anything until you're ready," Morgan promised.

"I know you won't. That's one of the things I like about you Derek Morgan. You're loyalty to those around you. When it comes to being charmed, you had me from hello," she told him, wishing she could tell him the reason she and Kevin had really broken up, but afraid she would lose him too if she did.

"I could say the same thing, Baby Girl. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it," Morgan told her, before placing a kiss on the top of her head.


End file.
